In fewer than 15 years, nanomedicine has gone from fantasy to reality.Many trace the origins of nanomedicine to a talk Richard Feynman gave at Caltech in 1959 in which he suggested that patients might one day "swallow the surgeon". . . .By Erica Westly

Nanomedicines make use of the new physical properties that materials acquire when miniaturized. With suitable tinkering, the particles can be made ready recipients for an array of molecules including: therapeutic drugs, targeting molecules for cell-specific delivery, surfactants for manipulating the shape of the particle and keeping it in solution, and imaging molecules that track the location of particles in patients.

New Mechanism for Nano Damage?Nanoparticles can damage DNA even in cells that are not directly exposed to them, raising further questions about the safety of nanomaterials used in clinical therapies.By Jef Akst

A New Twist on Nanoparticle BehaviorResearchers hoping to develop nanoparticles as medicines or carriers of therapeutic molecules may have much more to worry about than the type of material they plan on miniaturizing.By Bob Grant